Goa Forward, a regional political party, has also claimed that increased army voting in Navelim, should be probed by the EC.
Panaji : Opposition political parties here have claimed that the BJP in Goa had forced the Indian Army jawans to cast votes in favour of the saffron party in the February 4 state polls.Leaders of the Congress and Goa Forward claimed that jawans from the 3 MTR camps located in Navelim in South Goa and the 6 TTR in Ponda voted in unprecedented numbers.
They also said their party’s respective candidates were not allowed to canvas in the military cantonment areas.
“Over 700 army jawans were suddenly registered as voters from the three MTR military cantonment area. This kind of voter registration and voting is unprecedented… This is nothing but a surgical strike on fair election processes in the state,” Congress state president Luizinho Faleiro and the party’s candidate from Navelim told IANS on Saturday.
“The reason for our doubt is that there was no verification about whether the army jawans were registered in their home states. They were just given voter cards,” Faleiro said, adding that a similar surge in voting was also noticed in Ponda constituency, where the 6 TTR regiment is based.
“I was not even allowed to campaign or meet the registered voters in the army cantonment area,” Faleiro said, adding that a complaint had been made to the Election Commission.–IANS
